Archetypal Love Dilemma
by doushi-taikoubou
Summary: Mimi is all alone on the beach crying. Just what has happened to her? And who will be the one able to comfort her? One-shot


Fixed the major mistakes. As far as spelling goes, I'm pretty confident, but I wouldn't doubt a couple of grammatical mistakes.

Disclaimer: I own not the anime known as Digimon. Wonder how rich I'd be if I did...

"So you really were sleeping through English," Chad chuckled. "You know, Tennessee Williams once wrote, 'When so many are lonely as seem to be lonely, it would be inexcusably selfish to be lonely alone.'" He sat himself down on the sand beside the girl. "Mind if I join you?"

Mimi turned to face her boyfriend. Her eyes were still red and puffy from earlier, and it appeared as if they were ready to repeat the process again. She managed to say, chokingly, "Chad… I'm sor—"

"Shhhh," he hushed, placing a kiss on her forehead, "It's okay."

"No, it's not!" she argued. "I love you! I really do…" she shouted, trying to convince no one but herself.

"It's okay," he said again. Gently, he brushed back her cinnamon tresses so that he could look her in the eye. Mimi attempted to hold his hand within her own, but he brushed her away. Chad turned his head away, avoiding eye contact. "Damn it! This is harder than I thought." He sighed, turning back to face her. "Look… Mimi, I—I love you, and I always will. But the one you love… he's not me, and we both know who he is. The look that you showed him… I know that no matter what I do, I'll never be able to earn it from you. Mimi, it won't be fair to either of us to continue this relationship."

In her heart, Mimi knew that she still cared about him, but she just couldn't come up with a rebuttal. Besides, anything she says at that point would be pointless anyhow. With no other option than to stay silent, that's what she did.

The ocean waves splashed upon the beach shore. There had been silence for the last couple of minutes. Finally, the silence was broken. "I'll always be there for you pretty girl—no matter what—if you need me." Chad wrapped his arms around Mimi bringing her into him, encompassing her in a hug. "Trust me, it is hard as hell letting you go; you're the best thing that's ever happened to me. But I want you to be happy, so I want you to follow your heart and go back in there and tell him how you really feel." Having said all that he needed to, Chad let go of Mimi and retreated off into the distance.

"I'll always be there for you pretty girl…" he whispered into the wind.

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Mimi wiped the rest the tears in her eyes with her arm. _Thank you Chad, I'll never forget you. _With renewed courage, Mimi started walking back to the man who made her feel bravest and the only one who made her feel completely secure. It was a short walk back to the beach house. He, the embodiment of courage itself, was back at the beach house.

The wielder of the crest of courage was leaning on the railing, staring out ahead him into the ocean. Feelings of jealousy were boiling inside of him. Tai knew he should be happy that one of his best friends found someone that she loved, but he just couldn't help but feel depressed. This was the second time now, falling in love with a best friend, and then getting his heart broken.

Tai thought back to earlier in the week. _He had barely made it to the airport on time, due to having no one to wake him up when he threw the alarm clock across the room because Kari had stayed over at T.K.'s the previous night. 'What time is it?'_ _he thought, rushing through the revolving airport doors. It was 7:25, and Mimi's flight was supposed to have arrived at 7:15. "Shit!" By the time Tai had arrived at the designated meeting spot, everyone else was already there. In the middle of the group was the girl of his dreams, literally. The two of them had formed a close bond when he found out about Sora and Matt's relationship; in fact, it was Mimi who had helped him overcome his feelings for her over two years. They even dated a little one summer before she left to go back to America. Since then, the two had barely talked because of the difference in time zones, and that they both had busy schedules. Yet, his feelings for her remained. _

_However, standing next to the petite beauty was a guy he had never seen before… and worse yet, he had his arms draped around her shoulders. 'Who is he?' Tai wondered. The mysterious figure was about 6'1", and had an athletic build. He had short spiky black hair, no piercings as far as Tai could see, and was dressed casually. The guy wore jeans, the type that you'd expect from Americans, the loose—baggy type, a white polo, and some sort of Jordans adorned his feet. 'Wow, this guy might be able to steal some girls from Matt,' Tai thought. Of course, it was unnecessary because Matt "had" no girls besides Sora who he was currently dating. Then it hit him, what if Mimi __was__ dating him!_

_Reluctantly, Tai walked up to the group. A few who saw Tai coming waved, and the rest turned around. "Tai, there you are!" Mimi cried happily. She broke through the group and flung herself on him in a hug. "You're late you know," she pouted._

_By then, Tai had turned a bright red color. "Uh… I'm sorry Mimi." He scratched the back of his head like he usually did when he was nervous. _

_Mimi laughed lightly. Of course, she had expected him to be late; otherwise, it wouldn't be Tai. "It's okay. Here, come and meet my boyfriend!" She dragged him by the arm back to the group where they were currently engaged in a conversation with her boyfriend. "Tai, this is Chad; Chad, meet my friend Tai."_

"_It's nice to meet you Tai," said Chad. The two shook hands in a friendly manner._

'_So he really is her boyfriend,' Tai thought, feeling a tinge of jealousy._

_After that, the teenagers loaded up the luggage, which was mostly Mimi's, in one of cars and rode home. On the car ride back to the Tachikawa residence, Mimi told her friends in the car (Tai, Matt, and Sora) all about Chad. Stuff like, how he was captain of their high school co-captain of their high school basketball team, how he learned Japanese through his dad who was an international businessman, and how they met with Chad as her English tutor. All of this just made Tai, the driver, more jealous, and it showed when he kept making abrupt stops._

Suddenly, he snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed a shadowy figure approaching. Upon closer inspection, the shadowy figure was Mimi. Panicking, Tai tried to run back into the beach house, but stopped when he heard Mimi shouting, "Taichi Yagami, don't you dare take another step!" Even though he was a lot bigger than her, he knew that she meant business when she called him by his proper name, and didn't dare disobey her.

Although it was a relatively short distance between the spot she was at earlier and the beach house, Mimi had bolted her way down there, and it had been a long time since she had any exercise, so she was leaned over her back trying to catch her breath. It took a minute or two for her to catch her breath. "Tai we need to talk."

"No—I mean, uh… I have to get back in there. Matt's waiting for me," attempting to excuse himself.

Mimi's face turned a crimson color, remembering what happened an hour ago. "Tai… we have to talk about the kiss earlier…" Now she was the one feeling uncomfortable. "Did you feel anything from that?"

Yes, the two of them had kissed earlier on the roof. The two of them were reminiscing about their past adventures, and before the two of them knew it, they were engaged in lip-locking contest. Worst yet, Chad had walked in on them and saw the whole thing.

Shifting uncomfortably, Tai wanted to get away from the situation as fast as possible. "Look Mimi… I just had a little too much to drink tonight. I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to happen, I swear!" He thought Mimi would be glad about this, but he noticed she seemed a little hurt.

Following Chad's advice, Mimi reached deep down inside her heart and poured out all her true feelings. "Do you really mean that?" she asked, sounding a little hurt. "Because I don't. I don't regret that kiss," she cried, placing her hand upon her heart. She admitted, "I mean, sure, regret hurting Chad, and I didn't want him to find out like that. But the truth is… I think I'm in love with you."

Dumbfounded by what he heard, Tai stood there paralyzed.

"In fact, I think I've been in love with you ever since our adventure in the digital world. When I was made princess by the Gekomon and Ottermon, and you and Joe saved me from Shogungekomon, you had become my prince. I wanted to tell you how I felt when we came back to the real world, but at the time you were still in love with Sora. Then, later my parents and I immigrated to the United States. When I came back to visit, you still weren't quite over Sora yet, and I helped you forget her. We dated a little, but I wasn't sure at that time how much I really cared about you. Soon after, I returned to America where I met Chad. He was so nice, that I admit, that for a time, I had completely forgotten about you and the rest of the guys. However, after that kiss, I know that the one I love is you. You made me feel like no guy has ever made me feel before." She had done it; she had just blurted everything out.

He had barely overcome one shock, when all of the sudden he was told another shocking revelation. It was too much to absorb. _Mimi is in love with me? She's been in love with me for that long?_ "I don't know what to say…" Tai admitted.

"Just tell me you love me," Mimi pleaded.

Tai leaned over the side of the railing and captured Mimi's face in his hands. Very gently, he moved in to give her a kiss on the lips to seal the deal. "I do love you, my princess."


End file.
